Check
by AGENT Kuma-chan
Summary: His pawn moves forward. Checkmate in six moves. -Shikamaru, Sakura, and the art of war


**Title:** Check

**Prompt/Theme:** For all his intelligence, he could never classify her.

**Characters/Pairing:** Sakura/Shikamaru

**For:** Gone to the World. Sorry it's a bit late.

**A/N:** So, if I knew anything about shogi, I would have put that in place of chess. However, chess itself helped in terms of the title and ending, so I can't really complain. This takes place during the war itself in the manga.

**Summary:** _His pawn moves forward. Checkmate in six moves. _

...

...

...

"Your move."

He turns the hourglass as he focuses on the game, her white pieces scattered across the board. Her strategy is something he can guess at—her moves predictable after a dozen matches and he doesn't know what number this one is.

Probably sixty-five. She shifts her legs as she watches him, her thighs brushing against the scrolls she brought. In ten moves, he'll checkmate her.

"Another attack plan?" he comments as he thinks up twenty different moves to take. "How tiresome."

"Yeah, several new troops appeared in the north recently." She sighs at the thought—this has become a weekly event now. A game and then strategy. Before she leaves in the evening there will be another plot for her to give to the Hokage. "The southwest has been quiet recently. Ino and Chouji are down there." There's worry in her voice, too clear-cut for her to hide. "Naruto's already headed north."

"When?" His hands stop moving at his teammates names. The lack of information he gets in this room is astounding, the sea of papers around him strictly full of maps and military attacks.

"Yesterday night." The fear she can relate to, his fingers shaking for a moment before he calms down. "There was a skirmish yesterday but they're fine."

"That's good." His voice drops slightly at that, to a mere whisper, and this is a side of Shikamaru she knows of all too well. This is a side of everyone that she's getting too used to seeing and she envies Naruto's ability to keep moving.

His pawn moves forward. Checkmate in six moves. Turning over her own glass, she ponders the board as she speaks.

"It'll be a pincer, hopefully. The area those troops are in make a pincer a good option." She picks up a scroll, tossing it to him. He unfurls it to see the map of the area, the hills and valleys they choose to hide in.

She sees the move a second later, her own strategy improving in these games. Not as good as his, not yet, but she's starting to think in terms of counterattacks and feints. The only move worth making is one she can see three moves ahead in.

The map sits on his lap as he turns the glass, his mind half pre-occupied by it as he watches her bishop. It sits there, vulnerable, and her knight on the corner is waiting to go.

A trap, but not one as obvious as that. The girl of three years ago might have made that move. Another glance at the board and he finds what he's looking for.

The girl of today hides behind subterfuge and lies. It's her rook that's the trap. He moves his own bishop forward and takes another look at the map.

"A pincer..." he can already see the ways that could fail, the ways it could succeed. There are seven other ways to go at the attack, with varying percentages of success.

However—he looks up again, at her, and notices what he should have before. The green vest on her shoulders, the small pack beside her. Her eyes glance at the clock every ten minutes. "You're going."

It's not a question and she gives a nod. "I'm delivering the plans and staying until it's over. It'll be at least a month before I get back." She looks up now, watching him. "Shizune will be coming here instead of me then. She's worse than I was in the game."

He snorts. "Like you were bad in the first place."

Checkmate in two moves. He watches her stare at the board, looking for a hole out of his trap. The sand continues to fall, counting down the minutes, and it's only when she has three minutes left that she finally looks up with a smile.

"We'll have a rematch when I come back."

It's not like her to give up. He raises an eyebrow before sighing. "Troublesome." It's as close to an agreement as he'll get and she laughs.

"I'll be back later for the plans, I need to get my last minute orders." She uncurls her knees, straightening them slightly as she leans across the board to him. "By the way, the rematch was for you."

Before he can respond, her lips are against his and for once his brain stops thinking. Stops planning, Just stops.

She pulls back before he registers it. Her hand lets go of her queen, and she gives a sly smile as she stands up.

"Checkmate."


End file.
